Recent work

There are some recent pieces of mine uploaded to soundcloud--I thought it worth cross-pollinating here, if anyone is interested in hearing them.

This is one half of an installation developed with the help of Ruth Hardie and Oscar Dub for the Whipple Museum of Science in Cambridge. This material was composed--the right word--of close miked recordings of friction on various surfaces. My intention was to 'reconstruct' natural sounds (environmental sounds etc.) out of quasi-mechanistic material, using mechanistic processes. I was also concerned with that internal dialogue of 'recognisability' (the 'where have I heard that sound before?' question) one often has when listening to electroacoustic music.

This was the second room of the installation; the first (for which I had a lot of help from Oscar Dub) was more randomised and straightforwardly mechanistic--we took as our cue the replica of the 14th-century astronomical clock of Richard of Wallingford housed in the Whipple museum, and organised sounds to wander around the space in proportions determined by the ratios of the planets' orbits. Thus our installation (literally) circled around ideas of mechanism, nature, replication, simulation, time and astronomy.

This is an improvisation for piano and objects produced for Sarah Hughes and Patrick Farmer, of Compost and Height--I've since improvised at a date at Art Jericho, alongside Jason Kahn, Stephen Cornford, Patrick, Sarah, and Dimitra Lazaridou-Chazigoga, nestled amongst Will Cotterill's paintings. Look forward to more improvisation in the future--I'm just starting out in this area (well, all areas, but you know what I mean).

This is a piece for Cello and Tape, composed for and performed by Olly Coates, in the recital room at West Road concert hall. (Indeed it was specifically written for that room, the tape material designed to emerge specifically from the particular ambient noise in that space.) One of the best experiences of working with a performer I've yet had, Olly is terrifically sensitive, knowledgable, impossible to fluster, and without any trace of ego. I wish this piece could have been longer, but such were the time restrictions. I might be able to make it longer in the future, if I can find a good performer.

Will try and keep this blog more updated in future. Whenever I see it languishing (especially compared to the other, excellently well maintained blogs I read) I get a gnawing sensation like I haven't done my homework. Buck up your ideas, son.

xx